Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 4 July 2022 - Strasbourg

Digital Services Act - Digital Markets Act (debate)

  Marcel Kolaja (Verts/ALE). – Mr President, the big tech created a strongly centralised digital environment because they want to exercise full control over our digital lives. But my political group has always been fighting to give power back to people over the technology they use. This means challenging the centralised digital ecosystem. This means ensuring that messaging services can interoperate, so that people are able to move to privacy-friendly alternatives, to switch between applications, to refuse intrusive surveillance advertising. Because our fundamental rights can prevail over the commercial interests of the big tech as long as the digital ecosystem relies on covert tracking of individuals or when legal content is removed by error from filters. While we have a lot to do in order to protect fundamental rights online, the Digital Markets Act will now challenge the big tech's power over our digital rights. And with that, Europe is making a great step forward to better protect people.